Later, again, on June 27, Sir Edward Grey had again to telegraph to our Minister to make further very serious representations to the Chinese Government on the subject. He was to draw their attention to the fact that no friction existed between Captain O’Connor and the Tibetans of the locality previous to the intervention of Mr. Chang and Mr. Gow. We wanted nothing more than freedom of trade, for our political interests were safeguarded by clauses in the Treaty, and we had no wish to assert any political influence ourselves. We did not even desire to foster trade. We wished, indeed, to reduce the establishment at the marts, and, if things went on quietly, native instead of British agents might be appointed there. But Sir Edward Grey considered that China was “trifling with her obligations in the matter of Tibet,” and he suggested that Mr. Gow should be entirely removed from all employment in that country.
In consequence of these representations Mr. Gow was withdrawn from Tibet, but only to be given a higher appointment in a more popular part of the Chinese Empire—the Directorship of Telegraphs at Mukden in Manchuria—and the attitude of the Chinese in Tibet has not yet really changed. Perhaps the reason may be found in the hint given by Sir John Jordan, who, when the Grand Secretary told him that the Wai-wu-pu had always been puzzled to know the causes of the friction between Mr. Gow and the British Trade Agent, expressed his conviction that they lay in the fact that someone from Peking had been inspiring a policy in Tibetan affairs which was hostile to the Treaty and to British interests.
In any case, whether the cause lay in Peking, or with Mr. Chang, or with the Tibetans, the fact was clear that the Treaty had not been carried out; and the Government of India thought it necessary to bring the matter formally to the notice of the Secretary of State in a despatch dated July 18, 1907. Considering what had taken place at Gyantse, it was impossible to admit, they said, that the Gyantse trade-mart had been effectively open during the last few months. Our Agent had been cut off from intercourse with the Tibetan authorities, and no adequate provision had been made for British traders having resort to the mart. The agents whom the Lhasa Government had nominated for the marts had not been allowed freedom of communication with the British Trade Agent. And various minor difficulties had arisen in connection with the opening of the Gartok trade-mart. The Government of India, therefore, suggested that the Chinese and Tibetan Governments should be formally reminded of these various breaches of the Convention which had occurred, and more particularly of the failure to open the marts, which was a matter which struck at the root of the whole Convention.
Mr. Morley thought[[47]] the situation at Gyantse constituted undoubtedly a serious cause of complaint, but, in view of the reply of the Chinese Government to the representations recently made to them, he doubted the expediency of making any further reference to the subject at the moment. If, when the negotiations with Mr. Chang regarding the Trade Regulations commenced, the attitude of the Chinese and Tibetan representative should prove obstructive, the question would arise whether the British representative should not be authorized to warn them that our evacuation of the Chumbi Valley depended on a satisfactory settlement of the matters connected with the trade-marts being arrived at, the Chinese and Tibetan Governments being simultaneously warned to the same effect.
So for the present ended any idea of direct remonstrance regarding breaches of the Treaty. But it was not only locally at the trade-marts that the Chinese were pursuing their policy of separating the Tibetans from us. By an astute move they had already sought to effect the same end through payment of the indemnity. By the terms of the Treaty this was due from the Tibetans. Though we might well have demanded the indemnity from the Chinese, and many think that we should have demanded part, at least, for it was to enforce a Treaty which they had asked us to make, which they had assured us they could see observed, but of which, from 1890 to 1904, they were never able to secure fulfilment, that we went to Lhasa, we instead demanded it from the Tibetans, and, on account of their poverty, we reduced the amount payable from 75 to 25 lakhs of rupees—from half a million sterling to £166,666. The Chinese now said that they would pay this reduced indemnity. In an Imperial Decree issued in November, 1905, it was ordered that the indemnity should, in view of the poverty of the people, be paid by the Chinese Government—that is, that the Chinese Government should pay it over to us direct for, and on behalf of, Tibet.
In forwarding this information, Sir Ernest Satow suggested that we should inform the Chinese Government that we could not receive payment from them. He believed that the Chinese Government were trying to make themselves the intermediary of all communications between India and Tibet, and it seemed to him reasonable to conclude that this declaration of their intention to pay the indemnity was intended to force the hand of the Indian Government, and induce them to accept an arrangement which the Chinese Government could afterwards quote as a precedent in other matters.
Lord Lansdowne—these negotiations commenced while the late Government were still in office—felt difficulty in advising the India Office[[48]] as to how to deal with the matter. It was on the one hand obvious that the indemnity was required of the Tibetans partly as a punitive measure and partly in order that by the annual payment of the necessary instalments they should formally recognize the binding nature of the obligations entered into by them towards the British Government. Should the annual instalments henceforth be paid by the Chinese Government, the punitive effect of the indemnity would disappear, for it did not seem to Lord Lansdowne at all probable that the Chinese Government would be able or willing to recover from the Tibetan Government the sums paid on this account, and past experience had proved that it was not in the power of China to insist effectively on the fulfilment of the other stipulations of the Convention.
Lord Lansdowne felt no doubt that the proposal had been made by the Chinese Government with the object of re-establishing their theoretical rights to supremacy over the Tibetan Government, and probably also with the object of insuring that the non-payment of the instalments at their due date should not stand in the way of the retirement of the British forces. Irrespectively of these considerations, the refusal of the Chinese Government to adhere to the Tibetan Agreement made it doubly difficult for us to entertain the offer, and upon this ground alone Lord Lansdowne considered that it should be rejected. For acceptance would be tantamount to admitting the intervention of China in relieving Tibet from this portion of her obligations while avoiding all responsibility for any other portion of the Convention.
Should the attitude of the Chinese Government undergo a change in consequence of our refusal, and should they intimate that they would adhere to the Agreement, the situation would no doubt be altered, and might be reconsidered by His Majesty’s Government. Having regard, however, to the complete inability shown by China in the past to exercise effectual control over the Tibetan authorities, it seemed to Lord Lansdowne that it would be highly inadvisable to agree to any settlement which might be regarded as an admission that responsibility for the behaviour of the Tibetans would for the future rest upon the Chinese Government.
This view of Lord Lansdowne’s and Sir Ernest Satow’s, both very able and experienced diplomatists, was justified by the event. It was here that the Chinese began their series of efforts again to thrust themselves in between us and the Tibetans, and prevent that direct relationship between us which, through the futility of the Chinese themselves, we had been compelled at so much cost to establish. If we had stood firm at the start on this point, which was one on which we had a perfect right to stand fast, much future trouble might have been saved.